Month: December 2016

The US Department of Labor exists to “foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners [and] job seekers,” and to “improve working conditions” and “assure work-related benefits and rights.” Andrew Puzder, Donald Trump’s choice to lead the department, has not exactly embodied those values in his career as CEO of CKE Restaurants, parent company of fast-food chains Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. He’s a staunch and vocal opponent of minimum-wage hikes, and his company has had to pay out millions of dollars to settle overtime claims.

And now, thanks to OC Weekly’s Gabriel San Roman, we know what Puzder thinks of worker breaks. Spoiler: not much. Continue Reading

Andrew Puzder, the CEO of CKE Restaurants, would be a fine choice to head a government agency responsible for looking out for millionaires. Instead, he’s been tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to head the Labor Department, which for more than 100 years has been responsible “for promoting the welfare of wage earners, job seekers and retirees.”

The Labor Department looks out for ordinary working people when it comes to keeping jobs safe and making sure workers aren’t shortchanged or cheated when it comes to their wages. Puzder seems likely to turn all that upside down. According to his public statements, he opposes many of the policies and programs he would be responsible for administering. Continue Reading

The fast-food boss makes more in one day than his employees make in a year. Working people deserve a champion at the Department of Labor and Puzder’s proved time and time again, he’s not on our side.

Has Mr. Puzder ever had to decide between paying the rent or putting food on the table while living on a minimum wage? Maybe he should live that life before he tells us wages won’t go up. I hope our elected officials understand what’s at stake.

It’s hard to think of anyone less suited for the job of lifting up forgotten workers than Puzder, a billionaire CEO who vocally opposes any meaningful increase in the minimum wage, who talks glibly about replacing workers with machines, and who consistently attacks rules that protect both workers and law-abiding employers. Continue Reading

President-elect Donald Trump announced that he plans to nominate fast food CEO Andrew Puzder to head the Department of Labor (DOL). Puzder, who makes millions as a low-wage employer, fails every test for a Labor Secretary. DOL’s mission is to improve the wages and working conditions of working Americans, but Puzder wants to keep wages low and threatens to replace his fast food chain’s employees with robots if the minimum wage rises enough to crimp his profits.

He’s opposed to the new overtime rule that gave the right to time and a half pay to millions of salaried employees earning less than $47,476 a year. Walmart has already raised its managers’ pay, as did about half of all big retailers, even before the rule was supposed to take effect on December 1. But Puzder wants to kill it so he can keep working low-paid employees without paying them a dime extra for their overtime hours.

Americans want the freedom to earn a fair return on their work and an end to profitable corporations and lobbyists rigging the rules while expecting working people to do more with less. Andrew Puzder’s beliefs and actions demonstrate contempt and disrespect for the basics of what working people need to lead a decent life.

How can the American people trust the textbook definition of a bad boss to safeguard their rights and enforce labor laws at the helm of the Department of Labor? The millionaire fast-food giant has repeatedly argued against increases to the minimum wage or overtime pay for the people who make his chain so successful. Andrew Puzder has complained about the need for providing rest breaks and meal breaks in the workplace. And 60 percent of Labor Department investigations into his Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. restaurants have found at least one wage and hour violation. Continue Reading

Though reports differ on exactly how much Puzder is worth, they suggest he is at least a millionaire, so his appointment would further balloon the collective net worth of Trump’s Cabinet, which is already the richest in modern history.

Back in 2010, Puzder helped take once-public CKE Restaurants private by selling the company to Apollo Equities, a private equity fund that specializes in helping to turn around troubled businesses.

That has helped shield a lot of the details about Puzder’s compensation from the public eye. In fact, Puzder told the St. Louis Business Journal that the “most positive” aspect of the sale for him was that “we no longer have all the regulatory requirements that come with being a public company.”

Corporate profile pages on Bloomberg and Equilar don’t list any compensation information for Puzder. In 2014, the Huffington Post and Mother Jones reported a 2012 salary figure for Puzder of more than $4 million — via Forbes — but Puzder’s corporate profile on Forbes appears to have since been deleted.

Based on other evidence, outlined below, it seems likely Puzder is at least a millionaire — although possibly not quite as wealthy as some of the other heavy-hitters among Trump’s chosen Cabinet. Education secretary pick Betsy DeVos, for example, has an estimated net worth of more than $5 billion, and commerce secretary pick Wilbur Ross’ net worth is close to $3 billion.

The Secretary of Labor should serve as an advocate for working people, enforcing rules that protect workers and crafting new regulations to make sure everyone gets a fair shake on the job. He or she needs to be a voice for workers in the development of all administration policies. As a low-wage employer, Andrew Puzder has vocally opposed the Affordable Care Act, raising the minimum wage, and President Obama’s overtime rule—three policies that are central to an agenda of raising wages and combatting inequality. While it’s too soon to say what Puzder would do as Labor Secretary—if he is confirmed—there is nothing in his record or his public statements to indicate that he would lead in developing policies and enforcement strategies to generate higher wages and better quality jobs for America’s workers. Donald Trump ran a campaign that was long on rhetoric about helping working people. But will his actual policies enrich business at the expense of workers? Will his administration protect workers and keep them safe on the job? Will he allow people to get paid fairly when they work overtime? All of this is at stake now.